Targeted largely at conservative Christians, it's a violent video game with a difference: Combatants on one side pause for prayer, and their favored interjection is "Praise the Lord." Critics say "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" glorifies religious violence against non-Christians. Some liberal groups have been urging a boycott, and on Tuesday they urged Wal-Mart to withdraw the game from its shelves. However, Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games Inc., defended the game as "inspirational entertainment" and said its critics were exaggerating. He expressed greater concern about poor reviews from some video-game aficionados, saying the company would offer a free technical upgrade by Dec. 24. Lyndon's company, based in Murrieta, Calif., has a license to develop games based on the popular "Left Behind" novels, a Bible-based end-of-the-world-saga that has sold more than 63 million copies. ... http://abcnews.go.com

The state comptroller has agreed to pay more than $200,000 to settle an investigation into his use of a state employee to drive for his ailing wife, the attorney general's office said Tuesday. Alan Hevesi paid the state $82,688.82 after doing his own calculation and was subsequently ordered by the attorney general's office to hand over another $90,000. Under an agreement with the same office, Hevesi will pay another $33,604.97 within 10 days. In October, the state Ethics Commission said Hevesi, a Democrat, broke the law when he used a staffer to chauffeur his wife from 2003 to mid-2006. Hevesi claimed the driver was needed to provide security for his wife, but the bipartisan commission said state police found no threat that justified the arrangement. Hevesi apologized for what he called the serious error of providing a "belated" reimbursement, but insists he did not break the law. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2720839

Is an end of an era looming in the foreign exchange markets? The dollar has been depreciating against the euro for weeks. Currency experts and the German government don't yet see this as cause for alarm. The US currency's role as a lead currency isn't as important as it used to be, they say. Like most central bankers, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has a penchant for cryptic comments. Injecting a certain degree of incomprehensibility is a signal to the professionals that he's competent. And when it comes to laymen, industry jargon has the desired effect of generating the necessary respect. Last Thursday the public was treated to yet another example of Trichet's convoluted speaking style. A number of risks, the ECB president said, could jeopardize a generally favorable economic outlook in the euro zone. They included, according to Trichet, "concerns regarding possible uncontrolled developments triggered by global economic imbalances."...http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,453906,00.html

A bomb struck a crowd of mostly poor Shiites in Baghdad, killing at least 63 people and wounding more than 200 — including construction workers who were climbing onto a pickup truck that exploded after the driver offered them jobs. The attack came as the U.S. military said four Marines had died in Anbar province on Monday. In a press release from Camp Fallujah, the military said three Marines assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing died from wounds sustained due to enemy action while a fourth Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died from non-hostile causes. Their names were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who is under heavy political pressure for failing to curb the sectarian violence ransacking his country, condemned the attack in Baghdad and blamed it on Sunni extremists...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,235958,00.html

A suicide bomber struck a crowd of mostly poor Shiites in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding more than 200 after luring construction workers onto a pickup truck by offering them jobs as they were eating breakfast. The blast, condemned by both Shiite and Sunni lawmakers, came on a day that saw the U.S. military report the deaths of five more troops. At least 59 other Iraqis were also killed or found dead, including an AP Television News cameraman who was shot while covering clashes in the northern city of Mosul. The Baghdad suicide attack shattered storefront windows, dug craters in the road and set fire to several cars. People rushed to the devastated area to see if friends or relatives were killed or wounded. Mangled bodies were piled up at the side of the road and partially covered with paper. Two men sat on the sidewalk, crying and covering their faces with their hands. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2720723

The European Court of Justice on Tuesday overturned an EU decision to put the People's Mujahadeen of Iran, an exiled Iranian resistance movement, on the bloc's terror blacklist. The ruling annuls a 2002 decision to freeze European assets of the Paris-based group. The United States lists the People's Mujahedeen as a terrorist organization. However, the group founded in the 1960s by students at Tehran University says it advocates the overthrow of Iran's hard-line clerical regime by peaceful means. In its ruling, the European court said the group was not given a fair hearing to defend itself. "Certain fundamental rights and safeguards, including the right to a fair hearing, the obligation to state reasons and the right to effective judicial protection are, as a matter of principle, fully applicable," the court said....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2720696